


Homework

by ClothesBeam



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Discussion about Sexuality, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 01:57:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14439018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClothesBeam/pseuds/ClothesBeam
Summary: All Duel Academy students have to complete a Sex and Gender Education class and the related homework assignment to pass their first year. Syrus could just do what everyone else does and make up answers to the questionnaire they’re meant to discuss with another student, but he may as well do it properly when Jaden will just give him straightforward answers anyway… right?





	Homework

**Author's Note:**

> So, I finally got around to watching some GX. I've been unironically watching and actually enjoying the English dub, so I thought I'd write a little something based in the first half of season one.

As soon as he opened the door to their dorm, Syrus ditched his heavy bag of overdue homework assignments on the ground and put his shoes in the corner of their room. He was honestly trying to improve his marks before the end of semester, so Banner had given him a chance to resubmit the assignments he’d missed or goofed due to shenanigans. But right now he was focused on the Sex and Gender Education assignment since they needed to complete that so they could graduate to second year.

He’d been putting it off, of course. Instead of interviewing each other, most of the students just made up the answers since they didn’t have to put their interviewee’s name on something with sensitive private information. But Syrus couldn’t help but feel he’d be a hypocrite if he didn’t do it properly after making his resolution to improve.

Jaden was the straightforward one, so part of him had been waiting for him to bring it up, since his friend definitely wanted to start second year with everyone else. But now it was due tomorrow, and he was worried Jaden had just filled it out himself like everyone else did. So if he wanted to talk about it properly, he’d have to bring it up.

What did it matter anyway? It seemed Jaden had a thing for Alexis, so his answers should be pretty straightforward, and he’d be done with the conversation in a few short minutes.

Syrus removed the relevant pages of homework and a pen from his bag before making his way over to where Jaden was sitting at the table and shuffling through the cards in his deck.

“Hey, Jay?” he began before sitting on the other side of the table.

“What’s up Syrus? How did the study sesh go?” he asked without looking up from his spread of cards.

“Good, there’s just one more thing that’s due tomorrow. The sex ed thing, you know?”

Jaden straightened up and snapped his fingers, finally giving Syrus his full attention. “Oh! I totally forgot about that! Hold on, let me grab mine too.”

Syrus shook his head as Jaden dragged his rarely used backpack out from under the bed and removed a few messily folded pieces of paper from the bottom of it. He stuck his tongue out the corner of his mouth as he tried to flatten them out and make them reasonably presentable. Quickly giving up on that, Jaden picked his bag up again, turned it upside down and shook it.

When nothing came out right away he looked slightly disappointed. But then a trading card fell out and his face lit up. “Hey, I’ve been looking for this!” When Jaden noticed Syrus’ unamused expression, he laughed sheepishly. “But um, no pen?”

“You can use mine once I’ve finished. It’s a questionnaire we have to ask each other, anyway,” Syrus explained.

“Awesome! Thanks Sy!”

Jaden squinted down at the first page of the assignment. He always seemed to have trouble with reading large amounts of text, and couldn’t spell very well at all. Syrus sometimes wondered if he had some form of undiagnosed dyslexia.

Though it was kind of embarrassing, he decided to make Jaden’s life a bit easier by reading it out loud. “Ok, first question: What sex are you?”

“Uh, male, obviously?”

Syrus shrugged. “Just answer the questions, Jay. I don’t think we’re supposed to assume anything. Here, you can put male on mine too,” he said, handing the pen over.

Jaden wrote carefully and slowly before turning his attention to the next item. “Ok, what’s next? What gender? Well, that’s male too.”

“Same,” Syrus confirmed, letting Jaden finish writing that as well before taking his pen back.

He looked at the next question and frowned. He’d have to find a way to summarise that since reading out the whole paragraph wouldn’t help either of them.

“Do you like boys or girls?”

“I like card games!”

Syrus sighed. Why couldn’t he make this easy? “Yes, but the question is about what kind of people you find attractive.”

“I like people who like card games.”

“So… you don’t care about their sex or gender?”

Jaden shook his head. “As long as they play a good game and appreciate it like I do.” He looked like he wanted to say something else, but hesitated at the last second. Syrus was surprised he had any self-restraint when talking about duelling. “You get me, Sy?”

“Ok, I guess I’ll just put down pansexual?” Duellist-sexual seemed a bit too specific.

Jaden frowned and shook his head slowly as he stared off into space. “Hmm, I don’t know if that’s quite right. What about you, Sy?”

Since Jaden seemed to be sincerely trying to be honest with him, in his own way, Syrus gave his answer more thought. It was no secret he liked cute girls, but he’d started noticing that sometimes boys could get his attention too. Especially one boy in particular, though he didn’t feel ready to attempt to say anything about it yet. Maybe he never would.

“Um, I’m not totally sure. I’ve been sort of wondering if I’m bi…”

“Oh, really? I never noticed you like boys too.”

“Well, I mean, it’s not an easy thing to comment on when you don’t know how the other person feels about that kind of stuff,” Syrus replied softly with a small shrug.

“Hey buddy, you know you can be yourself around me, right? Say whatever you like, I won’t think less of you for it!” Jaden rested his elbows on the table and supported his head with his hands as he descended back into deeper thought. “It’s true that someone’s gender doesn’t really determine how I think about them in that way,” he admitted. “But also, I don’t think about sex and stuff much to begin with, and definitely not with people I barely know.”

“Oh! Then maybe demisexual is a better word,” Syrus suggested. “Maybe the fact you’re mostly close with people who also play Duel Monsters is the common theme here?”

It wasn’t until he’d blurted out his possible solution to their quandary that Syrus realised he potentially fit all of Jaden’s criteria. He clammed up immediately.

“Hey, yeah! That sounds closer, I think. You can write that down.” Jaden was silent for a moment as he watched his hand scrawl the words across the page. “Have you ever met a boy you like?”

Syrus was suddenly extremely glad he’d been unable to drag Chumley back to the dorm with him on his way through the cafeteria. Though, as someone who’d already attempted first year multiple times, he must have already completed this mandatory homework in previous years.

“I guess, I mean, I didn’t really start to wonder until I started at Duel Academy…” He looked up at Jaden to gauge his reaction, but, oh no, now his whole face was heating up. Syrus quickly looked away again in an attempt to hide behind his hair.

“Sy, if you’re not comfortable talking about it, you don’t have to! But remember, you’re my best friend. Whatever happens, happens. All that matters is that we stick together!”

Knowing Jaden, that was probably his idea of a confession. Syrus bent over to rest his chin against the table and covered his head with his arms. Maybe the red sleeves of his jacket reflecting on his face would disguise his uncontrollable flush. He sniffed quickly and silently cursed his propensity for crying when he was overjoyed.

“Th-that’s good, Jay. I hope we can be best f-friends forever too.”

“All right!” Jaden exclaimed. It seemed he knew him well enough to be aware he was happy and not miserable. “Now, let’s get this done so we can go to bed. Sleeping before test time is the most important thing!”

“I’d say actually studying is up there too, Jay,” Syrus replied dryly.

Jaden laughed loudly, and he joined in softly a moment later. As always, Jaden knew exactly how to lift him up and put him at ease, like a beacon in the dark. Sy wiped his eyes and moved on to quickly and sloppily fill in the general knowledge questions about safety and feelings.

Maybe getting his homework done properly wasn’t always so bad after all.


End file.
